Wednesday 21 September 2011

Cedar, Sheds and Slipping Up


As previously mentioned, I LOVE pottering around in my garden shed over the summer.  Mike collects  untreated cedar shutter offcuts from a company who would normally throw them away!  The old adage......... one man's junk is another man's treasure.  We use the cedar offcuts as kindling to light our fires in winter but as we feed them into the wood-burner, I select pieces that may be too good for burning.  In this way, I have selected enough wood to keep me busy for a few summers.  These are some of the projects which have been created in that little blue shed at the bottom of our garden.  I use organic olive oil to coat my creations.  Apparently coconut oil is better as it contains it's own anti-fungal properties - might try that this summer.  I have a few projects in mind.  Each summer I make at least one more nesting box for the birds.  The newer models have openings so I can clean them out for the next occupants.  We have at least 6 of them hanging around the perimeter of our fence currently.

I have made several wooden "box collars" which I plant my cucurbits (pumpkins, melons and squashes) in, to stop the birds from scratching around them and exposing the roots.  Works very well.  My first prototypes were cardboard collars but they didn't last long.  Then I tried erecting a mini fence out of sticks, all around the plants - birds just scratched them right out of the ground!!

Another use for our cedar bits has been garden signage.  I use them to make signs for our herbs (no more excuses from family members when asked to fetch a handful of parsley and they return with a handful of weeds.......)  One of our Helpxchangers, Julee from Germany, made many wonderful "attribute" signs for me - peace, harmony, gratitude, love, joy............ and secretly put them up all around the garden and so for weeks after she'd left, I would suddenly come across "peace" in the garden, or stumble across "harmony"!

Wooden planter boxes, oiled with olive oil

Little cedar boxes for storing Bay Leaves

A garden twine holder and cutter and more Bay boxes


A jewellery box for my daughter, with separate compartments
and ring holder

So apart from looking forward to school holidays in just under 3 weeks and beloved time in my shed, the garden is currently looking like it's starting to wake up from The Big Sleep.  I spied blossoms in my peach and nectarine trees... what a beautiful sight to behold!  And I really am becoming quite fond of our new little chooks, Liz and Spence.  They greet us expectantly as we approach their home and apparently, quite enjoy being picked up (my daughter has cuddled them a couple of times) and they have been laying their little hearts out - 6 eggs in two weeks!  Shayni enjoyed her first egg yesterday and declared it was heavenly!  Pity Mike and I don't eat eggs!  So why keep chooks then, I hear you ask - they are great little backyard workers - we have seen them devour snails and slugs in seconds, silently scratch up scraps and seeds in the soil (alliteration!  my daughter declares excitedly whilst studying for English exams)!

I hope to be able to do much the same as the chooks soon ('scepting the slugs and snails) whilst sitting here with my foot up on a chair after slipping in ankle deep water this morning at work and doing my ankle an injury! I hope I have just bruised or strained it and not actually sprained it but I am finding it very hard to put my weight on it this afternoon and it is quite swollen.  I think I might have left the tap running at kindergarten and the result was a great big flood this morning - much to the children's delight!  The children's stifled giggles might have something to do with the fact that we are an Enviro-kindergarten and  are always teaching how precious water is and to turn the taps off and not waste water!!

Ooops!  Slipped up there!


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